Titre du document / Document title

Exploring the planning fallacy : why people underestimate their task completion times

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

(1) Simon Fraser univ., dep. psychology, Burnaby BC V5A 1S6, CANADA

Résumé / Abstract

This study tested 3 main hypotheses concerning people's predictions of task completion times: (a) People underestimate their own but not others' completion times, (b) people focus on plan-based scenarios rather than on relevant past experiences while generating their predictions, and (c) people's attributions diminish the relevance of past experiences. Results supported each hypothesis. Ss' predictions of their completion times were too optimistic for a variety of academic and nonacademic tasks. Think-aloud procedures revealed that Ss focused primarily on future scenarios when predicting their completion times. In Study 4, the optimistic bias was eliminated for Ss instructed to connect relevant past experiences with their predictions